As Seen on TV

For those who don’t know, what do you do?

Kailin: Keanu is a professional surfer, and I’m a professional MMA fighter.

How did you guys meet?

Kailin: We actually grew up together in Hawaii. His sister and I have been best friends since the third grade, so we’ve always known each other.

How did you start liking each other? When was that?

It wasn’t until later, when we were older, that we kind of reconnected and started hanging out a lot. …We were just there for each other when we were both personally going through some rough things in our lives and just ended up liking each other. That was the end of 2010, the beginning of 2011.

Kailin, what drew you to fighting?

What drew me to fighting would have to be a group of girlfriends I had in middle school/high school. We wanted to start kickboxing, and we showed up to this gym in Ewa Beach where I’m from. There were all these guys training there, and I don’t think they took us seriously, so we literally had to show them that we were serious and that we wanted to be there. When I was 18 years old, I was able to fight in my first amateur MMA event, and after I won that fight, I looked at it and just kind of decided that it was something that I wanted to do. I didn’t think it was going to be a career but then moved to California and got signed to UFC for a couple of years and had six fights with them. And I’m still able to do it as my career.

Keanu, was your love of surfing a product of growing up in Hawaii?

Yeah, you could say that. Growing up in Hawaii definitely made me a surfer. Being from Hawaii, it’s a very big part of our culture. … My family raised me in the water, took me out surfing, and I fell in love with it from there.

When did you move to San Clemente?

Keanu: I moved here first in 2012, and Kailin came to visit and later moved here in 2013.

What made you want to live here?

Keanu: I grew up competing in San Clemente during the summers and was super familiar with the area. Later, I had the opportunity to live with one of my sponsors here and just fell in love with the area.

Kailin: Yeah, it reminds us very much so of Hawaii, just because we’re near the ocean. We love that it’s a little beach town. The people here are really nice and family-oriented. … The culture here is really chill. We love the beaches and just love living in California in general. If we wanted to go to Vegas or drive to the mountain and go snowboarding, there’s just so much we can do that we couldn’t do in Hawaii.

Where did you get married?

Kailin: We got married at Wedgewood San Clemente.

Favorite beaches in San Clemente?

Kailin: Linda Lane Beach.

Keanu: Lowers [Trestles].

We know you are both foodies. Do you like to cook?

Kailin: Yes, we both like to cook, but Keanu enjoys it more than I do.

Keanu, what’s your favorite thing to cook?

I love cooking salmon or anything that I can put on my Traeger grill.

What’s your favorite food to eat?

Together: Sushi!

What are some of your favorite spots to eat here in San Clemente?

“It reminds us very much so of Hawaii, just because we’re near the ocean. We love that it’s a little beach town. The people here are really nice and family-oriented. … The culture here is really chill. We love the beaches and just love living in California in general.”